Honeymoon Day 3 (September 23, 2009): Off to Edinburgh

After such an amazing day in St. Andrews, both Jenn and I got the fever to drive around Scotland. So we woke up with an extra sense of excitement for the upcoming day. We had decided after arriving back at the hotel the night before that we would drive to Edinburgh. We woke up and went down and had a nice breakfast at the hotel. From there we were off to Edinburgh. With our recent triumph of getting to and from St. Andrews with little to no problems we decided that we knew how to drive in Scotland well enough and didn't bother to get directions from the concierge on how to get to Edinburgh.

Standing in front of the BMW 318i

Jenn took a small cruise in the BMW before leaving to Edinburgh

We had little to no problem getting to the city of Edinburgh (took less then an hour) but getting to the attractions, that was a whole other problem that we didn't plan for. As I have mentioned already Jenn and I had little to no idea what we wanted to see or visit while we were in Scotland so when we arrived to Edinburgh we really didn't know what to look for, or where to go. After 10 minutes or so of driving around in the heart of the city we found a place to park where we thought the attractions were. So as we get out of the car a security officer comes up and says that we can't park there, so we get back in the car and continue driving.

The Bridge to Edinburgh

Driving Through Edinburgh With No Idea of Where to go.

Edinburgh driving is not like anything you would ever experience here in the United States, there are no rules rather just mere suggestions, and if you don't just risk your life at each and every turn your not going to make it to your destination. An hour and a half later of driving through the heart of the city we finally come across a place to park near where the Big Red Tour bus had one of its major stops. Jenn and I have used Big Red Bus tours in London, Paris, Rome, Florence, and Naples and they have always worked great so we decided to use them again in Edinburgh. It was a bit ironic to buy a bus pass when we drove to the city but it ended up working out quite nicely.

One of the main stops we ended up wanting to spend the majority of our time at was the Edinburgh castle which was one of the best preserved castles Jenn and I got to see on the trip. The shear size of the building was incredible not to mention the way it was perched up on the hill giving it a real tactical advantage to any attackers. We ended up getting to see all of the main sights of the city while still making it back to our car with less then 10 minutes left on our parking pass. The trip to Edinburgh was at times chaotic but was also filled with some of the best laughs of the trip. After a while we passed being frustrated with not being able to find where to park or where to go and made it into an adventure and that really made for an extremely fun and memorable day.

Pulling up to the Edinburgh Castle

View from the Edinburgh Castle

Jenn Standing in Front of the Edinburgh Castle

Manning one of the many cannons at the Edinburgh Castle.

The Oldest High School in Edinburgh

You would think after driving for an hour and a half trying to find parking we would be able to navigate our way back home. That unfortunately was not that case. We spent at least another 45 minutes trying to get out of the city and head our way back home. Once we did manage to get out of the city Jenn managed to fall right back asleep for the remainder of the drive once again showing her trust in my European driving skills. Our trip to and from Edinburgh took some time but the memories that we got out of it really made the entire journey worth it.

When we arrived back at the Gleneagles we decided to celebrate our day  having a really nice cozy meal at one of the hotels restaurants called Daseo which serves Mediterranean style food.  Jenn went with Sirloin Steak with a water while I had Halibut with a nice glass of Pinot Grigio. The meal was actually one of our better meals that we ate at the hotel and we decided to get three chocolate chip cookies for desert. All in all it was an extremely eventful and fun filled day and one that I know Jenn and I will never forget.